Read this interview with Northwestern University professor Christopher Lane. Chris's book 'Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness' documents the ways we’ve pathologized anxiety disorders and other human behaviors. He's truly an expert on the topic. Read on...
At one point in the DSM-III discussions, before he was out-voted, he was keen on “schizoid personality disorder” (already in DSM-I and -II) serving as an umbrella term for Jungians pressing for the inclusion of “introverted personality disorder.” It didn’t happen, and we got “Social Anxiety Disorder” and “Avoidant Personality Disorder” instead.
Introversion is only a disorder when it prevents someone from living the fulfilling life they wish. Conversely, extroversion might also be considered a disorder when the individual requires the narcotic of continual social interaction.
I'm a therapist that mostly treats anxiety, and I can say I have never heard of "Shyness" and I am excited to read it now! If you are not familiar with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), I think it is a mode of therapy that reflects many of these weaknesses in how we conceptualize "mental illness" and respond to human distress. I find it to be much less pathologizing. It's so unfortunate how the medical system in the US relies so heavily on diagnosis.
Regarding Shyness...I was in that category, until I met someone who told me to stop thinking about myself and start thinking about more of others. His advice helped. Many mental conditions are also caused by eating the wrong foods. Many are unaware that the brain neeeds nutrients to function; and processed foods don't provide the nutrients the brain needss; while junk foods literally destroy the essential nutrients the brain requires.
It was amazing that just a litle bit of advice concerning shyness changed my life.. It was from a short meeting with a soldier I had corresponded with, when I was at the university. He was the one who told me to start thinking of others and not focus on myself. He said that most people are so into themselves, they aren't giving a thought about you. He really made me think. Years later I started doing public speaking. The first time it was before a large audience at a health convention... and I was so intent on sharing information... my only thought was providing as much info as I could in 50 minutes. When I finished, people came up to say that I spoke so fast, I sounded like a machine gun; but they understood every word.; Some said Ihat I was the best speaker they heard. It was very difficult for me to go into a room with strangers in my teens. .I didn't like people looking at me. This brief meeting in a diner changed my life. Was your problem being shy and inhibited, too?
I appreciated Chris’s interview, especially this comment:
“Once one sees a situation or relationship with fresh eyes, it may be impossible to return to one’s former misperception—and that alone can be “enough,” in the sense of kickstarting a whole set of changes that lead to a strongly invigorated sense of wisdom and empowerment.
As a psychotherapist I sometimes ask my client at the end of session, ‘was anything helpful from our session today’? I’m always amazed that, oftentimes, what they found to be most useful was not what I would have predicted
So much of recovery is about the relationship between therapist and client. That is, finally, someone feels their subjective take on life has been really listened to; Another ‘gets me’. And that can jump start the process of listening to one’s own inner voice-- no matter how many years it has been shut down. And once the client has that sort of self-acceptance, therapy is typically no longer needed.
Therapy is an important way to get the hope, healing, and connection we need to survive in a world that can sometimes feel crazy. I appreciated how Chris found some of that acceptance and connection from the song, “Don’t Give Up,” by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.
Love tracing the history of medicine, and how we think about what mental health means.
Sarah,
Amazing interview. Thank you so much for sharing your truth with all of your readers.
At one point in the DSM-III discussions, before he was out-voted, he was keen on “schizoid personality disorder” (already in DSM-I and -II) serving as an umbrella term for Jungians pressing for the inclusion of “introverted personality disorder.” It didn’t happen, and we got “Social Anxiety Disorder” and “Avoidant Personality Disorder” instead.
Introversion is only a disorder when it prevents someone from living the fulfilling life they wish. Conversely, extroversion might also be considered a disorder when the individual requires the narcotic of continual social interaction.
I'm a therapist that mostly treats anxiety, and I can say I have never heard of "Shyness" and I am excited to read it now! If you are not familiar with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), I think it is a mode of therapy that reflects many of these weaknesses in how we conceptualize "mental illness" and respond to human distress. I find it to be much less pathologizing. It's so unfortunate how the medical system in the US relies so heavily on diagnosis.
Regarding Shyness...I was in that category, until I met someone who told me to stop thinking about myself and start thinking about more of others. His advice helped. Many mental conditions are also caused by eating the wrong foods. Many are unaware that the brain neeeds nutrients to function; and processed foods don't provide the nutrients the brain needss; while junk foods literally destroy the essential nutrients the brain requires.
It was amazing that just a litle bit of advice concerning shyness changed my life.. It was from a short meeting with a soldier I had corresponded with, when I was at the university. He was the one who told me to start thinking of others and not focus on myself. He said that most people are so into themselves, they aren't giving a thought about you. He really made me think. Years later I started doing public speaking. The first time it was before a large audience at a health convention... and I was so intent on sharing information... my only thought was providing as much info as I could in 50 minutes. When I finished, people came up to say that I spoke so fast, I sounded like a machine gun; but they understood every word.; Some said Ihat I was the best speaker they heard. It was very difficult for me to go into a room with strangers in my teens. .I didn't like people looking at me. This brief meeting in a diner changed my life. Was your problem being shy and inhibited, too?
[I'm sharing this on behalf of @Carol Donnelly]
I appreciated Chris’s interview, especially this comment:
“Once one sees a situation or relationship with fresh eyes, it may be impossible to return to one’s former misperception—and that alone can be “enough,” in the sense of kickstarting a whole set of changes that lead to a strongly invigorated sense of wisdom and empowerment.
As a psychotherapist I sometimes ask my client at the end of session, ‘was anything helpful from our session today’? I’m always amazed that, oftentimes, what they found to be most useful was not what I would have predicted
So much of recovery is about the relationship between therapist and client. That is, finally, someone feels their subjective take on life has been really listened to; Another ‘gets me’. And that can jump start the process of listening to one’s own inner voice-- no matter how many years it has been shut down. And once the client has that sort of self-acceptance, therapy is typically no longer needed.
Therapy is an important way to get the hope, healing, and connection we need to survive in a world that can sometimes feel crazy. I appreciated how Chris found some of that acceptance and connection from the song, “Don’t Give Up,” by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.